Twisting-and-winding machine



Nov. 26, 1957 E. KINSELLA ETAL 2,814,175

' TWISTING-AND-WINDING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. I.

Filed April 29, 1952 E. KINSELLA ETAL 2,814,175 TWISTING-AND-WINDING MACHINE Nov. 26, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 29; 1952 E-KINSELLA W-POQLE Mvmrogs I ,MWW ,qmmers Filed April 29, 1952 Nov. 26, 1957 E. KINSELLA El AL TWISTING-AND-WINDING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 IIVVEIITMS United States Patent TWISTING-AND-WINDING MACHINE Edward Kinsella and Eric William Poole, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignors to British Celancse Limited, a corporation of Great Britain Application April 29, 1952, Serial No. 284,992

Claims priority, application Great Britain May 3, 1951 11 Claims. (Cl. 57-52) This invention relates to tWisting-and-win-ding machines, and particularly to multi-spindle twisting-andwinding of the kind in which the yarns proceed to the take-up packages in the form of balloons rotating around the packages so as to twist the yarns.

In the winding of packages of twisted yarn on machines of this kind it is desirable to be able to arrange that all the packages wound should carry equal lengths of yarn. With this object the completed packages on all the spindles can be dofied, and replaced by empty package supports, in a dofling operation in which the diflerent spindles are dealt with one immediately after another and always in the same order. Differences are apt to arise, however, in the lengths of the yarn on the different yarn packages dofted in such an operation, owing to variations in the time required for the operative to doff each yarn package. Since the variations in dofling time may be cumulative along the series of spindles, the differences may become substantial when the number of spindles is large. Such differences are highly objectionable, particularly when the yarn packages are to be used in warping operations, in which all the yarn packages used must be replaced when the yarn has been drawn completely from the package having the smallest quantity of yarn thereon.

It has been found that these differences can be substantially. reduced by arranging for winding to be automatically stopped on the different spindles in succession at definite and regular intervals, each sufficiently long for the dofling of a package to be carried out. In this way, the cumulative variation in the length of yarn on the different packages obtained in a dofiing operation can be avoided. Winding can be stopped on each spindle, for this purpose, by breaking the yarn supplied to the spindle by a breaker member, carried along the length of the series of spindles at such a rate as to pass the several spindles at the required intervals. Difficulty arises, however, in ensuring that the yarn is broken at a definite stage in the passage of the breaker member. The yarn tends to yield to the movement of the breaker member, and to be merely deflected thereby for an indefinite time before it breaks. It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved twisting-and-winding machine, and a method of operating it, in which this difliculty can be overcome and the principle described above can be effectively carried into practice.

According to the present invention, a method of doffing packages of twisted yarn on a multi-spindle twisting and winding machine in which the yarn forms a balloon rotating about the take-up package comprises obstructing the rotation of each balloon in succession at regular intervals so as to break said balloon and to stop winding on the corresponding spindle, and doffing the completed package at each spindle and replacing it by an empty package support after winding on that spindle has been stopped. By placing an obstruction in the path of rotation of the balloon, the yarn can be broken with certainty,

2,814,175 Patented Nov. 26, 1957 use being made of the rapid lateral motion of the yarn itself, so ensuring that winding is stopped on the spindles in succession at the required regular intervals. For the purpose of carrying out the method defined above, a multi-spindle twisting-and-winding machine in accordance with the present invention comprises a series of twisting spindles, a chain or like flexible member extending along said series of spindles close to the zone of the machine occupied by yarn balloons formed about said spindles, a breaker member projecting from said chain into said zone, and means for driving said chain so as to carry said breaker member along the series of spindles. The driving means for the chain can be associted with counting mean-s, preferably driven from the means for supplying yarn to the spindles, for initiating the driving of the chain at regular intervals sufiicient for the winding of a complete package of yarn.

According to a further feature of the invention, provision can be made for the breaker member to pass through the zone occupied by each balloon more rapidly than through the spaces between said zones, i. e. at a speed greater than the average speed of the chain. This can be made to serve either or both of two purposes. Firstly the breaker member can be moved sharply into the balloon so as to determine more accurately the moment at which the balloon is broken. Secondly the breaker member can be made to move promptly out of the zone of the balloon so as to enable winding to be re-established on a fresh package support after dofiing; this prevents the time required for doffiug each package being unduly extended by the addition of a waiting period. It is, however, not wholly undesirable that the re-starting of winding on each spindle should be subject to a slight delay, so as to ensure that a standard time should not restart Winding too early, so extending the period of winding at the beginning of the period.

For the purpose of moving the breaker member sharply into the balloon, the breaker member may be springmounted on the chain and may be arranged to be checked, at each spindle, until the spring mounting is sufficiently strained to force a passage for the member, whereupon the member moves sharply forward into the zone occupied by the balloon so as to break it at an accurately determined time. The rapid motion may be sufficient to carry the breaker member completely through the zone occupied by the balloon so that a balloon can be immediately re-established for winding to continue. Alternately or in addition to making the breaker member move at a variable speed different from that of the chain, however, the speed of the breaker member can be made to vary by driving the chain itself at a speed which varies within the cycle from one spindle to the next, e. g. by the provision of eccentric driving sprockets.

The invention is of particular advantage in the production of even-length packages of artificial yarns continuously with the production of the yarns.

By way of example a ring-spinning machine in accordance with the present invention, and applied to this purpose, will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 a plan view and Figure 3 a sectional end elevation of the machine,

Figure 4 is a plan view on an enlarged scale showing the breaker member and its action,

Figure 5 is a view of the control box for the starting and stopping of the breaker chain, with the cover removed,

Figure 6 shows an alternative form of drive sprocket for the breaker chain,

Figure 7 shows diagrammatically an alternative form of control means for the starting and stopping of the chain,

Figures 8 and 9 are details of Figure 1 on a larger scale, and Figure 10 is an end elevation of the detail of Figure 8.

Referring to Figure 1 the artificial yarns 10 to be collected by the machine are in the form of bundles of continuous filaments and are produced in a spinning metier 11, that is a machine or apparatus for the production of continuous filaments, comprising a series of vertical spinping cells whose lower ends are indicated at 12. The yarns 10 are drawn away from the cells 12 by feed rollers 13, round which they pass on emerging at the bottom of the spinning cells 12, and are forwarded by the feed rollers 13 to the spindles 14 of the ring-spinning machine. A series of feed rollers 13 is provided on a common shaft 15 extending along the length of the spinning metier 11, each feed roller serving two spinning cells 12 and being separated from the next roller 13 by a Waste roller" 16, which is a stationary member of reduced diameter for receiving waste yarn. The feed roller shaft 15 is positively geared to means (not shown) at the top of the metier 11 for driving the spinning pumps which determine the rate of production (in weight per unit time) of each of the yarns 10. This ensures the constancy of the denier of the yarns irrespective of variations in the speeds of the pump shaft and the feed roller shaft 15.

The ring-spinning machine associated with the spinning metier comprises a series of vertical spindles 14, one for each spinning cell 12, on which take-up bobbins 17 are carried and by which they are rapidly rotated. The spindles 14 are mounted in bearings 18 in a fixed spindle rail 19. Above the spindle rail 19 is the ring rail 20, having an aperture for the passage of each spindle 14 and carrying, round the periphery of each aperture, a spinning ring 22 round which runs a yarn-guiding traveller 23. The ring rail is given a vertical traversing motion so as to traverse the yarn 10, guided by each traveller 23 to the bobbin 17 mounted on the spindle 14, up and down along the length of the bobbin. Each yarn 10 proceeds from its feed roller 13 to the traveller 23 by way of a lappet guide or balloon guide 24 located above and in line with the spindle 14, and forms a rapidly rotating balloon 25 between the lappet guide 24 and the traveller 23. By these means the yarns 10 drawn from the spinning metier 11 by the feed rollers 13, and forwarded by the feed rollers to the lappet guides 24, are wound in the form of packages of twisted yarn 26 on the bobbins 17 carried by the rotating spindles 14.

Midway between each spindle 14 and the next is a vertical plate 27 extending from above the height of the lappet guide 24 down through a slot in the ring rail 20 to the spindle rail 19, and serving as a balloon separator to prevent interference between the yarn balloons 25 of the adjacent spindles 14.

Behind the spindles 14, and at the level of the heads of the bobbins 17 mounted thereon, is a rail 30 extending the length of the ring-spinning machine for the support of the lower horizontal run of a chain 31 stretching the whole length of the ring-spinning machine. At the lefthand end of the machine (as shown in Figures 1 and 2) the chain passes round an idler sprocket 32 and proceeds upwards to a shaped eccentric driving sprocket 33 disposed at a height clear above head level and shown in greater detaihwith its associated parts, in Figure 8. The driving sprocket 33 consists of a toothed portion of generally triangular-shape mounted on a disc 35 which in turn is mounted on a spindle 36. The number of teeth on the sprocket 33 is equal to the number of links of the chain 31 in the distance between one spindle 14 and the next. A further sprocket 37 on the spindle 36 is driven by a chain 38 and sprocket 39 from a reduction gear 40 which in turn is driven through a pneumatically operated dog clutch 42 by way of a chain and sprocket 43, 44 from the left-hand end of the feed roller shaft 15. On leaving the eccentric sprocket 33 the chain 31 passes under and over'a pair of tensioning sprockets'45, 46

mounted one on each end of a lever 47 secured to a pivot shaft 48. Also secured to the pivot shaft 48 is a horizontal lever 49 cranked at 50 to clear the spindle 36, and carrying a weight 51 at its free end. As the eccentric sprocket 33 rotates, the tensioning sprockets 45 and 46 move to take up and deliver the slack arising from the eccentricity of the driving sprocket 33. From the tensioning sprocket 46 the chain passes along a rail 52 to the right-hand end of the machine, where it descends to pass round an idler sprocket 53. Chain guards 54, shown dotted in Figure I, enclose the sprockets 33, 43, 44 and the rail 52. Other chain guards are provided where appropriate but are omitted for clarity.

Carried by the chain 31 and extending forward from it are two yarn breaker members 57 separated from each other by equal lengths of chain in both directions. Each breaker member 57, as shown in Figure 4, is made of spring steel and terminates in a small hook 58 lying in a horizontal plane. The member 57 is mounted on a plate 59 forming one of the links on one side of the chain 31, but slightly thickened as compared with the other links of the chain. The plate 59 is reversible in order to allow the hook 58 to open to the left or right, viewed from the front of the machine, according as the spindles 14 are driven clockwise or anticlockwise as viewed from above. The chain 31 is situated just behind the rear edges 60 of the series of ballon separator plates 27 but the book 58 of each breaker member 57 extends forward beyond the rear edges 60. Thus, as the chain 31 is driven so as to carry a breaker member 57 along the series of spindles 14, the breaker member 57 bends back as it encounters each separator plate 27 and springs sharply forward on passing the plate, as shown dotted in Figure 4, so as to be projected into the zone occupied by the balloon of yarn 25 belonging to the next spindle 14. The dotted circle 25' indicates the path followed by the balloon at the horizontal plane of the member 57.

The rest position of the eccentric sprocket 33 is as shown in Figure l, with the middle of its portion of maximum diameter above the spindle 36. The breaker member 57 encounters the first separator plate 27 (and every subsequent separator plate) after an odd number of half-revolutions of the eccentric sprocket 3, i. e. when the breaker is moving with its minimum velocity-as determined by the minimum radius of the sprocket 33. By the time the breaker has broken the balloon and reached the mid-point between the plates 27 the sprocket 33 has performed another half-revolution and the breaker is moving with its maximum velocity. Thus, the breaker passes quickly through the zone occupied by the balloon and, though the portion of its path at which interference with the balloon would take place may be about twothirds or more of the total distance between the separator plates 27, the period of time taken to cover this portion may be of the order of only one-third of time taken to cover the total distance, i. e. one-third of a revolution of the eccentric sprocket 33.

The dog clutch 42 by which the chain 31 is driven is pneumatically operated by air supplied through a supply pipe 61 by way of a stop valve 62, air filter 63, reducing valve 64 and'regulating valve 65, pressure gauges 66 being provided to enable the supply pressure to be adjusted. The supply of air at high pressure to the dog clutch 42 holds the clutch in driving engagement. During the winding of bobbins on the spindles 14, however, the pressure is reduced by allowing the air to leak away through an air line 67. The connection 67 leads to a control box 68 shown on the right-hand side of Figures 1 and 2, and shown in greater detail in Figure 5. Within the control box 68 the line 67 terminates in a spring-loaded ball valve 69 which is opened by means of a cam 71 on the chain 31, one such cam being provided in association witheach ofthe breakers 57. The cam acts on a springloaded plunger '72 which operates a horizontal lever 73 opening the valve 69. The lever 73 is held in the open position by means of a latch 74 in the form of a bell-crank lever whose horizontal arm can be engaged by a vertical trip rod 75. The upper end of the trip rod 75 is connected to a horizontal lever 76 (Figures 2, 9 and 10) extending from a counter 77. The counter 77 is driven through a reduction gear '78, chain drive 79 and gears 80 from the feed roller shaft 15. After a predetermined number of revolutions of the feed roller shaft in accordance with the set-ting of the counter 77, the horizontal lever 76 is dropped allowing the trip rod 75 to fall and to disengage the latch 74. This allows the valve 69 to close so that high pressure is applied to the dog clutch 42, which is thereby engaged so that the chain 31 is set in motion. The number of revolutions of the feed roller 13 between successive operations of the counter mechanism 77 are sufficient to feed the yarn required for a full package, and to allow a period for doffing equal to the time taken for the breaker 57 to travel from one spindle 14 to the next.

When the chain 31 is set in motion one of the breaker members 57 is situated close to the first of the series of spindles 14 of the ring-spinning machine and is brought, within a short period, into engagement with the first separator plate 27 guarding the balloon 25 of that spindle. On passing the separator plate 27 the breaker member 57, as already described with reference to Figure 4, is projected into the zone of the first balloon 25, whereupon the ballon engages with the hook 58 on the end of the breaker member 57 and is broken. The yarn extending from the feed roller 13 to the balloon 25 is wound back on the feed roller, on which also the yarn produced by the spinning metier 11 until winding on the spindle is re-established, is collected as waste. The operator then doifs the bobbin 17 of this spindle and replaces it by an empty bobbin on which winding is re-started, the waste collected on the feed roller 13 being slipped ofi the end of the feed roller to the waste roller 16 as part of the re-starting operation. The rapid motion of the member 57 immediately after breaking of the balloon enables winding to be re-started quickly without interference between the new balloon and the member 57. Meanwhile the breaker member 57 is carried forward to the next spindle 14 and, after a period suflicient to allow the first spindle to be doffed and re-started, breaks the balloon at the second spindle in a similar manner, and so on. The period thus allowed for dofling at each spindle can be adjusted through a range of 20-50 seconds by changing the sprockets 37, 39 through which the chain is driven.

When dofiing at all the spindles 14 has been completed, the second breaker member 57 is brought into a position ready to start a further dofiing cycle. The cam 71 carried by the chain 31 and associated with the second breaker member 57 then engages the plunger 72 and closes the valve 69, which is held closed by the latch 74. This brings the chain to rest. The momentum of the chain and its associated parts is sufficient to carry the cam 71 clear of the plunger 72 so that the valve can be closed again by the operation of the trip rod 75 when the cycle is to be repeated. The operator re-sets the trip lever 76 of the counter mechanism 77 before doffing at the first spindle.

While, as described above, it is preferred to drive the chain 31 by means of an eccentric sprocket 33 so that the breaker 57 passes quickly through the zone occupied by each balloon, the chain may, instead, be driven by means of a plain sprocket as shown in Figure 6. The plain sprocket, shown at 82, is mounted on the spindle 36 and driven by the sprocket 37 and chain 38 as in Figure 1. The chain 31 passing round the sprocket 82 proceeds directly to the guide rail 52, the end of which is brought close to the sprocket 82. By driving the chain in this way, the breaker 57 moves with a uniform speed along the line of spindles 14. The engagement of the breaker 57 with the separator plates 27, however, still causes the breaker tip to move sharply into the zone occupied by each balloon.

Instead of driving the chain through a clutch fro the feed roller shaft 15 it may be driven, as shown in Figure 7, by an independent electric motor 84 controlled by two switches 85, 86 arranged in parallel and operated respectively by the trip rod 75 and the cams 71 on the chain 31. The switch is loaded by means of a spring 87 to an open position while the switch 86 is loaded by a spring 88 to a closed position. When the trip rod 75 drops after a predetermined number of revolutions of the feed roller 13 the switch 85 is closed and the electric motor 84 begins to drive the chain 31, the motor being connected by a reduction gear 89 to the sprocket 39 shown in Figure 1. As soon as the chain moves, the cam 71, which has been holding the switch 86 in the open position by engaging a plunger 90 similar to the plunger 72 of Figure 5, moves on and allows the switch 86 to close. The trip rod 75 and counter mechanism 77 are then re-set by the operative before dofling the first spindle and the motor continues to run although the switch 85 is opened by the re-setting. When doffing at all the spindles 14 has been completed the cam 71 corresponding to the second breaker member engages the plunger 90 and opens the switch 86, thereby stopping the motor 84 and the chain 31. In this instance, the elongated head of the plunger 90 ensures that the cam 71 holds the plunger after the chain 31 and associated mechanism have stopped, and until they are re-started by the further operation of the trip rod 75.

The mechanism can be arranged to actuate a visual or audible signal to give the operator warning that dofiing is due to begin. Thus, a warning light can be operated pneumatically from the branch pipe, indicated in Figure l at 91, when the trip rod 75 drops. By arranging the earns 71 on the chain 31 well in advance of their yarn breaker members 57, the operator can be given time, after the signal is operated, to reach the machine preparatory to dofiing.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A multi-spindle twisting-and-winding machine comprising a series of twisting spindles, a flexible member extending along said series of spindles close to the zone occupied by yarn balloons formed about said spindles, a breaker member projecting from said flexible member into said zone and means for driving said flexible member so as to carry said breaker member along said series of spindles.

2. A machine according to claim 1 comprising means for supplying yarn to the spindles, and counting means driven therefrom and adapted to initiate driving of the flexible member at regular intervals suflicient for the winding of a complete package of yarn.

3. Apparatus for the production of packages of artificial yarn, said apparatus comprising a spinning metier for the production simultaneously of a series of bundles of continuous artificial filaments and a yarn twisting-and-windin g machine as claimed in claim 2 adapted for the twisting and winding of said bundles on its respective spindles.

4. A machine according to claim 1 comprising means for causing the breaker member to pass through the zone occupied by each balloon at a speed greater than the average speed of the chain.

5. Machine according to claim 4 comprising a breaker member in the form of a spring finger, and a stop for checking the end of said finger immediately before it reaches each balloon, until it is sufiiciently strained to force a passage past said stop and to move sharply forward into the zone of the balloon.

6. Machine according to claim 5 comprising a series of balloon-guard plates between the spindles for preventing interference between adjacent yarn balloons, said plates being adapted to act as stops for the breaker memher.

7. A machine according to claim 1 comprising means for driving the fiexiblemember at aspeed varying within the cycle of motion of the breaker member from one spindle to the next to cause said member to pass through the zone occupied by each balloon at a speed greater than its speed from one balloon to the next.

8. A machine according to claim 1 comprising means for supplying yarn to the spindles and counting means driven therefrom and adapted to initiate driving of the flexible member at regular intervals suflicient for the winding of a complete package of yarn and means carried by the flexible member for stopping the driving of said member when dofiing on the series of spindles is completed.

9. A machine according to claim 1 comprising a breaker member in the form of a spring finger, a series of balloon guard plates between the spindles for preventing interference between adjacent yarn balloons, said plates also serving as stops for checking the end of said spring finger immediately before it reaches each balloon until said finger is sufliciently strained to force a passage past the plate and to move sharply forward into the zone of the balloon, and means for driving the flexible member at a speed varying within the cycle of the spring finger from one spindle to the next.

10. A machine according to claim 9 comprising means carried by the flexible member for stopping the driving of said member when doffing on the series of spindles is completed.

11. Apparatus for the production ofpackages of artificial yarn, said apparatus comprising a spinning metier for the production simultaneously of a series of bundles of continuous artificial filaments and a yarn twisting-and winding-machine as claimed in claim 10 adapted for the twisting and winding of said bundles on its respective spindles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,446,416 Geier Aug. 3, 1948 2,582,696 Haythornwaite Jan. 15, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 247,421 Great Britain Feb. 18, 1926 422,203 Great Britain Jan. 8, 1933 

